According to Swiss officials, the Swiss jet approached the Russian craft for a "routine check" that they described as a standard police control procedure in the air.

The Russian airplane was a passenger airplane with a parliamentary delegation headed by Russian State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin on board. The delegation was en route to a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva, officials with the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Originally, Russian officials believed that it was a French aircraft that approached the Russian jetliner. Russia summoned a French ambassador for an explanation, but then apologized, when it became known that it was a Swiss fighter jet, but not a French one.